


Mrs. Jones

by DarknessAroundUs



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, High School, Southside Serpent Jughead Jones, Teacher Betty Cooper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 01:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16295501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarknessAroundUs/pseuds/DarknessAroundUs
Summary: Betty applies for the job at Riverdale High under her maiden name, she only gets the job because of that. She knows this to be true because two weeks later while photocopying notes she overhears Principle O’Conner tell his secretary “I would have never hired her if I had known who she was married to”.





	Mrs. Jones

Betty applies for the job at Riverdale High under her maiden name, she only gets the job because of that. She knows this to be true because two weeks later while photocopying notes she overhears Principle O’Conner tell his secretary “I would have never hired her if I had known who she was married to”.

In a depressing way she finds it hilarious that using the last name of a serial killer allowed her to get a job that using the last name of a gang leader would not. She teaches under the name Jones, not the name Cooper. It is the more common last name between the two, the one less likely to stick out.

During her first year of teaching none of her students at Riverdale High bring up her husband. She doesn’t know if that means they don’t know who she is married to, or they know better than to bring it up. Betty’s students are always well behaved, but she hopes that has something to do with her teaching style – firm but caring.

She isn’t the kind of teacher who brings up her husband in conversation. She never mentions him to students nor to her fellow teachers. Yet when Jughead picks her up every afternoon and drives him home in their truck, she tells him about her day. He knows which of her colleagues is known to steal lunches, and which one has too many cats.

Betty tells Jughead about the student she sneaks an extra sandwich to. She tells him the story of the student who hands in the lyrics to Shake it Off by Taylor Swift as their lyrical poem.

In exchange, he tells her all about his day over dinner in their bungalow. His work days mostly start at 9:30 PM, when she is winding down to go to bed, he heads out to bar-tend at the Whyte Wyrm.

Sometimes he recognizes her students there, but the Whyte Wyrm cards now, and they are never there long.

 Jughead still isn’t much of a drinker but alcohol aside he knows that the lessons he learned growing up in the Whyte Wyrm weren’t exactly good ones. Sure, the bar has changed with The Serpents over the years, the stripper pole is long gone, and it’s been almost five years since they’ve been paid to intimidate anyone with physical violence, but it’s still dirty and desperate, in a way Jughead’s come to find comforting.

During the third year of teaching Betty has a new student. Not just new to her, but new to Riverdale period. Brian is a seventeen-year-old athlete who comes across as smart and over confident.

During the first week he behaves himself in Betty’s class. She hears horror stories from the other teachers, in Mrs. Smith’s Math class he started imitating her. He copied everything she said, for a half hour. In AP chemistry with Mr. Martin, he managed to dissolve three test tubes in an hour.

In gym he relieves the teacher, Mr. Capra of his pants. No one could prove this, but Mr. Capra insists it was Brian and Betty has no reason to believe otherwise.

During the second week of school Betty hands out a test. She stays at the front of the room while the students write in their answers.  

Halfway through the timed test Betty notices Brian start to pull something out of his backpack in the back of the classroom. She doesn’t even really get a chance to see what it is, Sarah, the student next to Brian, sees him reach into his backpack and a look of shock crosses her face.

Betty starts to walk down the aisle towards Brian and Sarah. She hears Sarah whisper harshly to Brian “Put that back right now. We will talk at lunch.”

Betty has always thought of Sarah as one of her favorite students. She would never tell Sarah that, but Sarah actually loves English. Her essays are thoughtful and she is always asking for book recommendations.

Brian’s expression clouds for a second, as if he is deciding what to do, and feeling conflicted about it. Betty pauses halfway down the aisle. She doesn’t want to interfere if she doesn’t have to. It turns out she doesn’t, Brian zips up his backpack and has a sour look on his face for the rest of the period.

By lunch time Betty has almost forgotten the whole situation. She is sitting behind the school, eating the lunch she packed and staring out at the football field, remembering what it was like to be a student here, when she hears Sarah talking. Sarah must be right around the corner from Betty because Betty can hear every word, but it is clear that Sarah can’t see her.

The first full sentence Betty overhears is “I know you are new here and that you seem to get your kicks out of being irritating, but you can’t pull a stunt like that in Mrs. Jones class.”

“Why the hell not? Because you are her teacher’s pet?” Brian says, scorn lacing his voice.

“No! That is irrelevant. Do you know who Mrs. Jones is married too?”

“Mr. Jones. Clearly.”

“Do you know who Mr. Jones is?”

“No. Why should I? Does he teach here too?”

“No. He runs the Southside Serpents.”

There is a pause. A long exhale. Betty suddenly feels apprehensive. What if they are about to turn the corner and discover that she’s sitting here, sandwich half eaten and abandoned in her lap?

“Are they a gang?”

“Yes, genius. So not only were you the idiot who wanted to set off a bottle rocket in a crowded classroom – which FYI you shouldn’t do anyways. Even if no one gets killed you will be expelled. You were going to set it off in the one classroom where the teacher’s husband might kill you for doing that.”

“Because he is part of a gang?”

“He is the gang leader.”

“Shit.”

“Just don’t pull anything in her class. Not unless you have a death wish.”

“Wait, is that why everyone is always so well behaved in her class?”

“Yes.” There is a distinct pause then Sarah adds. “Plus, Mrs. Jones is nice. No way around that.”

Betty has a hard time keeping a smile off her face for the rest of the day. When Jughead picks her up in their truck after work, he smiles back at her and asks “Why are you so happy?”

She wiggles her eyebrows and replies with a giggle “Wouldn’t you like to know.” She tells him as soon as they are driving and he has to pull over two blocks later he is laughing so hard. She is laughing too, in that manic way where tears are escaping.

Later in bed he gets her to repeat the whole story again and they don’t laugh this time, just snuggle contentedly, her head resting on his chest. His arm over her back.

“I find it funny that they are so scared of you.” Betty says, a little smile on her lips.

“I am just grateful they are scared of me. Apparently, it keeps them in line and I don’t even have to do anything but exist.”

“Not that you would do anything if they misbehaved.”

“Who says I wouldn’t?” Jughead replies his tone of voice caught between serious and teasing. “Although it seems likely that we won’t ever find out.”


End file.
